𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 | Fruits Basket FF

(57)

unrevised.
/ chapter 57 /

"Stay away!" Akito screamed in haste, swinging the shaking knife around that made Tohru flinch back. "You wrecked my whole world, you took everyone from me and yet you get to stay as the pure one?! You're the dirtiest of us all!"

"Please just listen to me, Akito-san," Tohru tried to reason. "I know you've been putting up a brave front because you've been lonely. The reason you keep talking about 'eternity' and 'unchanging' things....

".... is because it's scary, isn't it?"

Drops of tears fell from Tohru's eyes as it was Akito's turn to flinch back. The expression on his face told her that he was confused and didn't to accept what she was saying was real to him.

Akito dropped the knife a couple steps away from and lunged at the girl with a raised hand, striking her right into the face and he didn't stop there.

"Shut up! Shut up!" He bellowed. "You know nothing! Don't speak as if you know anything!" Again and again he strike Tohru's face left and right, hard enough for it to immediately bruise.

Ichika who had already disappeared from her hidden position couldn't just stand and watch. She caught one of Akito's arms and hugged it tightly against her in attempts to pull him from stepping any closer to her friend.

"Akito, stop!" She cried.

"Y-You...!" The man growled, gazing down at her in disbelief wondering when the hell she got here. "Get off of me, Ichika! I'll deal with you later! I need to teach her a lesson since she thinks she can just win me over or fool me with her pathetic heroic words! I... I...!"

"Please just stop!" Ichika begged as her eyes began to sting.

Out of the blue, Tohru muttered, "I'm dirty, you're right Akito-san." Which halted the movements of both Sohmas. Ichika turned to Tohru who weakly stood there with half of her expression covered by her straight bangs. "I wished for the same things you did.

"Unchanging feelings. Bonds. But people and feelings can't be bound down. I think you've already realised that, haven't you? And that's stung you all this time."

"I told you to shut up." The dark-haired Sohma demanded. His words were authoritative yet Ichika could feel the tremors of his body. "If you hadn't appeared in our world, no one would have thought to leave me." Akito's fists tightened at his side. "But you know what? It doesn't matter anyway. Right, Ichika?"

He looked down at her through his raven bangs and Ichika met him with an anticipating gaze. "I've allowed you by my side since we were kids, the bond we have impossible to sever. I'm even willing to forgive you and everyone elses' betrayal so long as you prove her wrong and be the only one who's not allowed to leave me. You be the sacrifice in order for me to set the others free." He continued.

"Is that why you hurt Kureno...?" Ichika daringly murmured the rhetoric question. "Because the 'sacrifice' you thought wouldn't leave, wants to leave too?"

"SHUT UP!" Akito snapped and grew red in the face. He snatched Ichika's thin wrist in his hands and yanked her up from her spot, making her grimace from the aggression.

Tohru, with tearful eyes, stepped closer to them only for Ichika to raise a hand to stop her. She quietly shook her head and mustered up a smile of assurance. It's okay, Tohru. Go find someone, she mouthed. Tohru watched helplessly as Akito pulled the blue-haired Sohma along with him until their backs disappeared into the distance and the trees.

The pressure of Akito's grip on her wrist was unyielding and it would soon leave behind hand marks. After a few moments of walking, the God finally stopped in his tracks, allowing Ichika to catch her breath. She glanced around while doing so and noticed they were surrounded by trees and what looks like a slope near a cliff. She quickly casted her eyes away from the scenery before it triggered any memories.